"When did Dr Who Jump the Shark?" Topic

Well?

I don't think it has. But I have not seen the last half of the most recent season.

I think it's lowest point was when Sylvestor McCoy was doctor, I did quite like him, but they teamed him up with Bonnie Langford and pited him against a bertie bassett monster. By this point the BBC just wanted to end it. Don't mind any of the new docs, but I think the last 2 seasons stories have been pants. Don't get me started on the renault meganne daleks…………

"A Christmas Carol", with its flying shark pulling a sleigh.

Seriously, the show is still highly entertaining. The newest season has its critics, but I still think it's good, and has never reached a proper 'jump the shark' point.

it jumped the shark even before the Fonz did.

Whenever the Dr. has a monologue about how great and special humanity is.

If you mean when did it become not worth watching, then season 1 episode 1. Never liked it, but that's just me.

With David Tennant, when he became God. I'm thinking specifically of the "I do believe in the Doctor" moment, when the faith of the world brought the Doctor back from his Yoda impersonation, and the Doctor levitated through the air to forgive the Master of his sins. That just…lost me.

Fortunately they disposed of Missers Tennant and Davies soon after.

Romanadvoratrelundar 1. Ace started to improve things, but by then it was too late. Of the new series, I'm still enjoying it. Want to see the Nightmare Child devour the Dalek flagship at the battle of Arcadia.

Al | ravenfeastsmeadhall.blogspot.com

When Tom Baker left.

It hasn't… the new stuff has Companions with personality and TITLES, a strange daffy younger Doctor, a season featuring both Badger and Blank Reg, and bowties!

Tennant's Doctor of Righteous Vengeance is missed, but the new team more than makes up for it.

I liked snarky Chris Eccles.

When River Song became a main character.

Well, the axiom is if a scifi show brings in time travel, it has probably jumped the shark. Not sure how well it applies to shows about time travel, though.

Somewhere during David Tennant's run. I had high hopes for Steven Moffat taking over control of the show (not a fan of RTD) but alas I find it virtually unwatchable these days.

Edit: I think Matt Smith is good, just wish he had better material to work with.

It did not.

Although not currently at it's best it is far better then most other shows out there. Rewatching it is better then the first run through as well.

The original show needed a rest, the new age junk of the Sylvestor Mccoy run was dreadful.

Not yet!

I don't think it has, but I suspect the fanbase did years ago.

I expected to hate Matt Smith but I think he's pretty good, it's the story lines (I'd forgotten the flying sharks, which was probably inspired by the beginning of Airplane!) they start well and you wonder how they'll resolve it and then they sort it all with "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" or spitfires in space complete 'ollocks.

and then they sort it all with "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" or spitfires in space complete 'ollocks.

Don't forget focusing on your emotions, remembering who you are and general wishy thinking. That seems to be the way to save the day more often than not.

It can't jump the shark. Simply can't. It can however have a season so boring I forgot most of it. Namely, the last one.

Lets hope the next one is better, even though it's coming way later than we were originally told.

Since the first show first season a millennium ago, but then that's why we like it. Truth be told, any episode with River gets bonus points.

The newer version are substantially better than the original, and while I miss Donna and Rose, Amy's a pretty good egg.

I'm tempted to go with "Shark-Proof"…

You can change the time period, the cast, the creative people… its possible to do pretty much any story you can imagine…
No other show can change so much.
And where there is change, there is opportunity to recovery from a poor season…

FYI:
The 1st Doctor, ep #1 aired on 23 November 1963.
The Fonz, did his shark jump on 20 September 1977.

I'm going to change my answer, as I agree with ETenebrisLux and Wolfprophet. As much as I dislike the way it's gone lately, Doctor Who has been in worse and seemingly more unrecoverable positions in the past (such as the McCoy era…) and has managed to bounce back.

Un-shark-jumpable.

I find the three latest Doctors well and truly hold their own and the show is tops. Heck, I even enjoyed Torchwood (in spite of my more conservative views on chasps like Cap'n Jack).

I'm guessing the show hasn't jumped anything but when I started hanging out with some folks who are much bigger fans of the show than I am I found my interest dropped off to zero and I stopped watching.

I don't think it has jumped the shark.

they jumped over a big shark in one of the Christmas specials

The 14th doctor … oh, wait … I'm not supposed to talk about that yet … er … um … only in episodes with rainbow Daleks, but it unjumped the shark in episodes after that. Time travel, and all that, y'know.

The newer version are substantially better than the original, and while I miss Donna and Rose, Amy's a pretty good egg.

Two words: Louise Jameson

Sure they jumped the shark. But it was a giant space shark, with space-fricking lasers.

It was great.

That was a starwhale, I think. And Good Queen Liz X.

The newer version are substantially better than the original, and while I miss Donna and Rose, Amy's a pretty good egg.

Two words: Louise Jameson

More rockmelons than eggs though….

When the scenery stopped wobbling when someone closes a door.

Exactly 22 seconds after Amy Pond was invented.

The whole thing became The Amy Pond Show.

Simple enough solution, though –

Kill. Amy. Pond.

Spread the word.

Spread the word.

Hallelujah brother!!

Exactly 22 seconds after Amy Pond was invented.

The whole thing became The Amy Pond Show.

True dat. Even worse than RTD's obsession with Rose.

Ha ha yes

I love the new Doctor Who series. I loved it so much that with Netflix I tried watching the older Tom Baker episodes every talks about and I suppose it's just me but I found them to be, well . . . Awful.

To me, the low points of Doctor Who are:

1. Delta and the Bannermen

2. Any episode involving Mel/Bonnie Langford.

DO NOT KILL Amy Pond.
She is far and away my favorite Dr. Who "Companion".
And the most attractive.

SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER

Amy Pond is leaving (no surprise if you have been paying attention to the later episodes).

She is being replaced with this young lady:

link

Amy Pond the most attractive Companion? Others may soon disagree. Not that that should really matter, but looks do seem to be rather high on the criteria for suitablity (but then Doctor Who is hardly unique for that).

It has not jumped the shark and never will.

The last season was pretty much unbearable, one or two episodes aside: the storytelling was chaotic and in some case just plain sloppy in a way which even the RTD-era stories avoided.

Example: in 'Let's Kill Hitler', the man himself just gets stuffed in a cupboard partway through the episode and ignored in favour of more guff featuring River Song, a tedious character played by a terrible actress. Never mind that having the Doctor accidentally save Hitler's life poses interesting moral and ethical questions, let's just bung him in a cupboard. It's like they're deliberately trolling the audience.

Example: also in Let's Kill Hitler, Rory and Amy have a new best friend for about ten minutes before [SPOILER]. She's never been mentioned before. Stephen Moffatt's been running the series for a while; couldn't he have set that up beforehand?

Example: between The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon, the Doctor and chums have been looking for The Silence. But since they immediately erase themselves from your memory when you no longer look at them, how on earth did they ever remember them long enough to carry out the search? It was never explained. Shame, because The Silence were pretty creepy and had potential as villains. Someone just couldn't be bothered to fill in the gaps properly.

Example: when Amy & Rory's baby is kidnapped, they don't seem to spend any time actually trying to find her. Yes, they know who she turns out to be, and thus that she survives, but they seem to spend most of their time piddling around on random adventures instead of trying to find her, which makes them completely unsympathetic.

Plus, I really dislike Moffatt's general characterisation of the Doctor as someone who spends most of his time running around talking nonsense very very quickly. Sometimes it works; mostly it's extremely irritating. Matt Smith is capable of much more but rarely gets the chance to show off his range.

Shark jumped? Not quite yet, but getting much too close for comfort.

When that dude started sporting broccoli on his lapel.

He's certainly had a lot of strange adventures, but intercourse with a carnivorous fish?

Just kidding, I know the British expression. For me, it was with all the "I'm the Doctor, all evil aliens fear me, even if they have me totally surrounded and are about to detonate a universe-destroying doomsday weapon, hey, I'M THE DOCTOR."

I liked the older versions where nobody knew who the Hell he was.

When Baker left the show, about25 years ago.

I tried to watch the original as a young adult and frankly I t did work for me! So there is no nostalgia here. I did get hooked on the new series though. I liked the edgy Ecclestone, enjoyed the goofy Tennant, I am warming up to Smith. So no shark jumping as far as I'm concerned.

Well I was asking myself about the next sexiest Dalek…

So, before I express any opinions, just what DOES 'jumping the shark' mean??? Can this be described, or do we simply mean: when did something become cr@p in your opinion?
If (b), then Doctor Who began to fail sometime during Peter Davidson's second season. Of course, the topic is a complex and trivial one, and the old series and the new series are so different that they cannot really be considered the same story/art/concept at all.

Long live Tom Baker. Death to K9.